Reward raised to $32,500 in bank robberies, bomb scare in Needham, Wellesley

(FBI)

A bank surveillance photo shows the Needham robber on Friday with the suspicious device that resembled three sticks of dynamite.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Law enforcement officials say they are raising the reward for information that will help them crack the case of recent bank robberies in Needham and Wellesley in which suspicious devices were left behind by the robber and a recent bomb scare in Needham.

The reward has been raised from $25,000 to $32,500, officials said today at a news conference at Boston's FBI headquarters.

The reward is being offered after a robbery Friday in Needham in which the robber left behind a suspicious device; a robbery on March 26 in Wellesley in which the robbery left behind a suspicious device and another one was found on a pay phone at a nearby supermarket; and an incident on March 23 in which a suspicious device was found connected to a pay phone at a church parking lot in Needham.

FBI officials said today that the crimes appear to be connected, based on the description of the suspect, the clothing he was wearing, and the devices that were used.

"We consider these to be egregious acts of violence," said Noreen Gleason, assistant special agent in charge.

Asked if the devices were real bombs, officials said they were being analyzed at the FBI's lab at Quantico, Va.

The reward was first offered after Friday's robbery in Needham. In that case, a man dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt robbed the TD Banknorth branch in Needham Center and left a device resembling three sticks of dynamite at the teller's window before fleeing on foot up Great Plain Avenue toward Wellesley, just before 4 p.m.